Japenese Internment (Issei and Nisei)
Name: Kichirou Moukisaki
Age: 14
Hometown: San Francisco
School Attended: none
Birthday: 6/3/1928
Relationship Status: not in a relationship
Income: none
Occupation: none
I was the son of a prominent Japanese immigrant who moved to California shortly after World War I. My father met my mother in San Francisco where they eventually settled and started a family. Times were not bad growing up in a big city. There were many Japanese immigrants on the west coast with whom we lived with. Things went wrong. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese military. After news of the bombing was broadcast, everyone disliked the Japanese (“America” 432). The fear of the Japanese grew. In Hawaii an order was given to evacuate all Japanese Americans from the state. This was never followed through with however due to the fact that the Japanese
were a major part of the Hawaiian economy. Instead over 1,444 Japanese Americans were interned (Danzer et.al. 594). My cousins had been living in Hawaii and after the internment we were unable to keep in contact. While many Japanese were kept out of suspicion in Hawaii, those in California were not so lucky. My family and I dealt with immense prejudice. After President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 we were eventually sent to an internment camp with the rest of the Japanese Americans. Over 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage were put into one of 10 internment camps (Siasoco, Ross 1). Conditions were poor and we were always wanting more and wondering why this was happening to us. We needed order in the camps along with proper representation. We were still U.S. citizens. Therefore leadership positions were offered however, “[the positions] were only offered to the Nisei, or American-born, Japanese. The older generation, or the Issei, was forced to watch as the government promoted their children and ignored them” (Siasoco, Ross 2). Along with these privileges of leadership Nisei were allowed to leave the camps if they enlisted in the U.S. military (“America” 432). Eventually we were released and the Japanese American Citizens League was able to obtain reparations for our internment (Danzer et.al. 595). Although many suffered in the camps we were still able to keep a spirit a patiotism. Works Cited America Land I Love. Pensacola, FL: A Beka Book, 1994.
Gerald, A. Danzer et.al. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Little Inc., 2003.
Siasoco, Ricco and Shmuel Ross. “Internment”.Info Please. October 24, 2007.
<http://www.infoplease.com/spot/internment1.html>.
Name: Kichirou Moukisaki
Age: 14
Hometown: San Francisco
School Attended: none
Birthday: 6/3/1928
Relationship Status: not in a relationship
Income: none
Occupation: none
I was the son of a prominent Japanese immigrant who moved to California shortly after World War I. My father met my mother in San Francisco where they eventually settled and started a family. Times were not bad growing up in a big city. There were many Japanese immigrants on the west coast with whom we lived with. Things went wrong. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese military. After news of the bombing was broadcast, everyone disliked the Japanese (“America” 432). The fear of the Japanese grew. In Hawaii an order was given to evacuate all Japanese Americans from the state. This was never followed through with however due to the fact that the Japanese
Works Cited
America Land I Love. Pensacola, FL: A Beka Book, 1994.
Gerald, A. Danzer et.al. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Little Inc., 2003.
Siasoco, Ricco and Shmuel Ross. “Internment”.Info Please. October 24, 2007.
<http://www.infoplease.com/spot/internment1.html>.